NEW PALTZ – The 1,870 member Class of 2016 at SUNY New Paltz received their undergraduate degrees on Sunday.
“Today, we recognize the achievement of students who have completed the hard academic work of earning a degree,” said President Dr. Donald Christian. “Graduates, we have tried to prepare you with knowledge, intellectual and personal attributes and a desire to keep learning throughout your lives. These are features that employers seek in college graduates, and that also are the foundation for a good life.”
President Christian congratulates one of the grads
The traditional cap toss
Regina Calcaterra, a Class of 1988 graduate in Political Science, delivered the commence address. She is an attorney and advocate whose memoir, Etched in Sand, recounts the many hardships she overcame on the way to earning her degree and giving back through her work in the legal profession.
“I thought that I became an ‘author’ after publishing my book, but I was wrong,” Calcaterra said. “I was an author all along, the author of my own story, and you, 2016 SUNY New Paltz graduates, are the authors of yours. Your first chapters are already written. You are now equipped to move forward to write the next ones, where you will tell your readers that with a New Paltz degree, you are no longer a bystander, but are actually on the playing field. Go on and be your own authors, but don’t write the ending just yet. Know that the characters and plots will keep changing, and enjoy the drafting stage – truly is the best part.”
Valedictory remarks were given by Margaret Hack, an English major and resident of New Windsor.
“What we accomplish from today forward will be a product of our choices, our unique characteristics, our struggles and our perseverance,” Hack said. “We leave New Paltz with pride in who we are and what we have done; we leave here ready to build our lives.”
